ravenously hungry during taper/recovery

Yeah, I get crazy crazy hungry during "down" times ... for one thing, it's true as you said that you reduce your caloric intake and your body, being used to more, is like, "WHAT?!?!"  Also, your body is primed for longer distances or higher intensity, so it is expecting to be fed at that level.

Helps me a bit to throw out the meal plan and graze/nibble throughout the day instead. 

Good luck!!!

I have experienced that too and it helps me to eat more "lower" caloric food (salad, veggies etc.)  those days so that I still keep my calories low but on the other hand eat a lot.

How many calories are you eating on those off days?

I have a sports nutritionist, and I asked her how much less I should eat on my recovery days. This is what she said:

This may seems like an odd question are you really hungry or are you feeling like you want to eat...there is a difference.

Is your stomach grumbling? If so you are hungry.

If not it might be a craving, urge or desire to eat that isn't really hunger.

I think for us that have been overweight for awhile we don't have a good true sense of what our body needs.

So is your couple hundred calorie deficit based on a lower numbers as you are working out less or not at all? I have a goal calories for each day and add to that calories I burn exercising..so I should always  have the same net calories each day.

I've found that my metabolism stays pretty ramped up so I end up eating almost what I do on a training day.

I get that gurgling noise in my stomach. When others can hear it, I know it's time to eat.

I think when you stop workouts and suddenly put on weight, it's water weight mainly from not burning as many carbs.

Lord I hope this is the case.  I've spiked up five or six lbs in the past fews days during this taper and I can't explain why.  It's really frustrating!

Yea I hope this is the case too...

I'm up 4 lbs in the last week.  I'm trying to make sure I am pretty much always hungry at this point.  The only time I am letting myself eat till satisfied is recovery meals right after a workout.

It kinda sucks though...

Think about it. To put on 4 lbs in a week, you'd have to eat about 12,800 more calories than what you are burning. I seriously doubt this is happening.

My husband did the low carb thing a couple of years back. He'd be so good during the week, but on Football Saturday, it was all about the beer and the food. He'd weigh 10 lbs heavier on Monday than he did on Friday. He'd go back to low carb eating and within about 3-4 days, all that extra weight would come off.

All those unused carbs lead to water retention. Just like you can't expect to lose 4 lbs of fat in a weekend, you aren't gonna put it on either (unless you do nothing but eat and drink the whole time!)